Saudi, UAE among world’s top 10 most dominant powers

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been ranked in the top 10 of a list of the world’s most dominant economic and political powers by American media company US News World Report.

The power sub-list formed part of the 2018 Best Countries ranking, which saw 21,000 people from four regions asked to associate 80 countries with specific attributes.

Countries’ power was based on an equally weighted average score from five country attributes including a leader, economically influential, politically influential, strong international alliances and strong military alliances.

The UAE stood 10th on the list, with Saudi Arabia taking ninth. The US was ranked the most dominant power followed by Russia, China, the UK, Germany, France, Japan and Israel.

US News World Report said the most powerful countries were those that consistently dominate news headlines, preoccupy policymakers and shape global economic patterns. They were also those with the most tracked military spending and foreign policies.

The power scores had 7 per cent weight in the overall best countries ranking.